A year ago, 28-year-old Josh Levy jumped off the Monroe Street bridge after a police effort to end a long standoff by using a Taser failed. On the anniversary of this tragedy, Center for Justice Chief Catalyst Breean Beggs describes how Tasers work and delves into the serious questions that are being raised as the supposedly non-lethal devices gain wider use.
As reported in Sunday’s Spokesman-Review, the Center for Justice became involved earlier this year to support efforts by the Disability Rights Washington organization to obtain law enforcement records related to the death of Josh Levy. Levy, who suffered from schizophrenia, jumped off the Monroe Street bridge after a police plan to subdue him with a Taser failed, and officers then tried to rush him.
The July 27th front page article by veteran S-R reporter Karen Dorn Steele makes use of the recently obtained records to examine several questions that Levy’s family has about the events leading to the standoff and how it ended.
In addition to the specific question of whether the use of a Taser was warranted to try to subdue Levy, Beggs also says the incident and the lack of an investigation into the tragedy once again raises the broader question of independent police oversight.
“If we’d had oversight in place by now,” Beggs says, “ there would have been an independent investigative report into what happened, what went wrong, and what could be done better the next time an event like this unfolds.”
Beggs sent a letter to Spokane Mayor Mary Verner on Friday, explaining how he and the Center believe independent policy oversight can be implemented without interfering with the police department’s internal disciplinary process.
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